How are you feeling about the Nationals’ season so far?
Are you one of those glass-half-empty types who believe that the 59-38 Nats have underachieved this season and should be competing with the Los Angeles Dodgers for baseball’s best record, if not for so many wasted scoring opportunities and blown leads?
Or is your glass half full, thankful that the team is 21 games over .500 with the biggest division lead in the National League – 12 games approaching the end of July – despite what has been baseball’s worst bullpen and a mounting list of injuries?
Let’s take Sunday’s 6-2 win over Arizona. There is plenty to be concerned about, even as the Nats head home from a 7-2 road trip. Stephen Strasburg left after two innings with what he described as forearm tightness. Reliever Enny Romero left in the seventh, in the midst of an effective performance, with a back spasm. Catcher Jose Lobaton fell from his crouch with a cramp in the same inning but stayed in the game. Wilmer Difo had to start in left field, backed up by Andrew Stephenson in his big league debut, due to an injury to Chris Heisey and a death in Ryan Raburn’s family.
The Nats still won the game without much drama, thanks to perhaps the most effective performance of the year by the bullpen; seven innings of five-hit, two run baseball. The Nats also hit All-Star and former Nat Robbie Ray hard in the first inning, accounting for four of their six runs. Their final two came on a run-scoring groundout by Adrian Sanchez – his first career RBI – and a home run from Wilmer Difo – his second homer this season and third of his career.
Were they lucky to win? Maybe so. But win they did, and key players showed some toughness.
Difo, the last man added to the roster in April, has hit .383/.466/.468 over the past 30 games, primarily filling in at shortstop for Trea Turner. He went 2-for-4, including the homer, and scored twice. Brian Goodwin was in the minor leagues when the season started and has been starting in the outfield only since Jayson Werth and Michael A. Taylor were sidelined. He led off Sunday’s game with a homer. Goodwin has hit .278/.304/.648 in 54 leadoff at-bats this season, and has hit five of his nine homers leading off an inning this season.
Losing players like Turner, Werth and Taylor would crush many teams, and such injuries have hurt the Nats in the past. Not this time.
Now let’s look at the bullpen, once the team’s most glaring weakness. After falling apart for much of the season, it now shows signs of falling into place
In five games since general manager Mike Rizzo traded for the back-end duo of Ryan Madson and Sean Doolittle, each has pitched three games, allowing one run between them in a combined six innings. As manager Dusty Baker predicted, the rest of the bullpen has gotten comfortable as well. The relief corps has racked up 14 scoreless innings in the past 16 2-3 thrown, pitching to a 3.24 ERA.
So, as the Nats come home to face the Brewers and Rockies, two of six NL teams with winning records, is your glass half full or half empty?
With Joe Ross out for the season and Strasburg possibly missing some time, but Werth, Taylor and Turner all possibly returning in the next month, how’s the season looking?
With players like Difo and Goodwin contributing to key wins and gaining confidence that could make them clutch bench players, how does it look?
With a rejuvenated bullpen holding leads big and small, and locking down hitters like Mike Trout and Paul Goldschmidt – and more help possibly on the way – are you confident?
Things seem different now than in 2013 and 2015 when the Nats came up short. With such a big lead, such a strong lineup, such a deep bench and such an improving bullpen, how can you not be confident?
